Why "Manifesting" is A Load of ...

Let’s have an honest conversation for a moment. Because the way “manifesting” is being sold in the spiritual world right now feels deeply off to me.

Maybe it’s because the energies right now are off the charts. The double fire horse is galloping wildly into 2026, leaving anyone with even a vague awareness of consciousness and energy, reeling in their ice baths.

Everywhere you look, there are people teaching you how to “call in” six-and seven-figure incomes, posting photos from luxury retreats, floating around in expensive bohemian outfits, talking about light codes, upgrades, and quantum downloads. Using all the language that computers do. Funny that. I have spoken to this before in many blogs and podcasts, and why I personally avoid using words that reflect technology instead of biology.

And I’m watching it thinking… is this what awakening looks like? Or is this just capitalism in spiritual clothing?

For a long time, I bought into parts of it too. Many of us have. We wanted to believe that if we just aligned hard enough, visualized clearly enough, healed ourselves enough, something magical would happen and life would suddenly become easy. That we would find ourselves transported to an island paradise, followed by happy clients filling our bank accounts with more and more “K’s” each month.

But that isn’t how real transformation works. You don’t manifest your way out of misalignment. You integrate your way through it. And that’s a much slower, quieter, more humbling path. It’s not sexy. It’s not camera-ready.

Sometimes your energy is low. Sometimes your body needs rest. Sometimes you have pimples or eye bags. Sometimes your life is calling you inward instead of outward, especially in midlife, during the rite of passage we call “menopause,” and in seasons of grief, change, or radical responsibility.

And that doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means you’re being initiated.

There have been times in my life where my “tide was out.” Where I had nothing flashy to offer. Where I wasn’t productive in the way the online world celebrates. Where my work was happening privately, in my body, in my heart, in my nervous system. I didn’t want that to be the reality in the moment, but on the other side of them now, I know those seasons saved me. My ego struggled and my mind resisted, but those times ended up teaching me that presence is way more valuable than performance.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is this: you can’t teach what you haven’t embodied.

You can share ideas, sure. You can repeat concepts. You can sound convincing. But people feel whether you’ve actually lived something. Or not.

If you’re still struggling deeply with your health, your boundaries, your self-trust, your emotional regulation, and you’re trying to lead others through those same things, something will eventually crack – that’s not criticism. That’s compassion.

Heal first. Then teach.

Teach from the scar, not the open wound.

“Aligning with your higher/future self” isn’t about doing pretty rituals in flowing dresses, burning rote words on paper, fringing altars with five types of tarot packs, or dancing under the moonlight wearing a menstrual blood mask.

It’s about identifying YOUR core wound, and giving to yourself in alignment with that.

So, perhaps stop posting about women’s sexual empowerment and gender integrity if it's always photos or videos of yourself half-naked in the bush, demanding attention and praise while rejecting stereotypes.

Perhaps stop promoting natural health remedies and protocols if you’re undergoing treatment and spreading the ‘war language’ that goes with those allopathic (aka death cult) programs.

Perhaps stop teaching, full stop.

Take time out to work on yourself and resolve your wounding. Your time in the social spotlight will come after you have done your work.

I had to learn this myself of course. Twenty-six years as a therapist and I’m still learning.

Growing up, no one really modeled self-care for me. My parents were loving and devoted, but like so many of their generation, they carried unprocessed trauma. You just got on with things. You coped. You endured. You packed up your pain in a manageable bundle, and slowly lost touch with your inner truth.

Perimenopause forced me to look at that. (Parenthood did too, but that’s another blog).

Now, on the other side of that massive rite of passage, I truly get it. Caring for my father through illness and death, and now walking beside my mother through dementia, has been one of the deepest spiritual trainings of my life.

“This shall not pass!” “This ancestral pain/trauma stops with me.” “I no longer give permission for … to continue in my lineage.” All those familiar phrases we throw around in fleeting moments of clarity, have finally come home to roost and resolve in my being.

At 56, self-care isn’t a luxury for me anymore. It’s a sacred responsibility. If I don’t tend to myself, everything suffers. Those I care for, suffer. Therefore, I am no longer willing to compromise my wellbeing, on any level, anymore. For anyone – including my ego.

Another benefit of growing older... and wiser. Old enough and wise enough to act upon and alchemize the spontaneous messages that both life, and death, offer us all in due course.

I chose years ago, to stop pretending I could override my body with “positive thinking.” I stopped pretending that lighting a scented candle and reciting affirmations was enough.

Sure, those things can help and make you feel a little better when you’re down, but experience has taught me that alignment isn’t aesthetic – it’s uncomfortable honesty. It’s asking yourself where you’re out of integrity. Where you’re people-pleasing. Where you’re over giving. Where you’re avoiding. Where you’re still outsourcing your power to an external authority, be it the tax-man, a doctor, or your husband.

When you choose to stop projecting into the future and start focusing on what is going on in the moment – and how you are showing up to meet it – that’s when the catharsis happens. That’s the real work.

And no, it doesn’t photograph well.

I’ve also noticed something over the years, especially in the online spiritual world: a lot of people are teaching from unresolved wounds.

They’re charismatic, eloquent, and by golly, many of them are super toned and convincing. But what a lot of people don’t realize – including themselves – is that they’re also hurting. So, what do they do?

They build businesses around quick fixes and endless programs that keep people looping instead of liberating. Again, not always consciously. But energetically, it’s there. This is one of the main ways that unresolved poverty consciousness expresses itself through humans, and we will all do it at some point during our self-mastery journey.

If someone truly wants you empowered, they won’t need you dependent on them. A master/elder will teach you how to trust yourself. Not them. They’ll also encourage you to question them – so you learn how to stop questioning and doubting yourself.

And now… we’ve added AI into the mix. Woohoo!

People are using machines to write their spiritual content, generate their “downloads,” and polish their voice, their “unique,” “nobody-else-is-doing-this” message.

NB There is nothing new here – we are all just regurgitating the same information, the same ancient dynamics. We are just offering our perspective, through our sacred lens, and to do that, we must have morphed ourselves through the crucible of life, first. Otherwise, we’re just parroting. Or worse, plagiarizing.

AI-curated content might look and sound impressive, but it does concern me. Why? Because intuition isn’t artificial. Wisdom isn’t automated. Healing isn’t outsourced. When you hand over your creativity and discernment to algorithms, something sacred gets diluted. Quietly – but profoundly. Piece by piece, until you don't even know you're broken.

I’ve worked with many spiritual mentors over the years, and at the time, I admired and trusted them. They reflected where I was, which is why I invested the dollars (and the time) that I did. I watched their lives, followed their advice (even when it triggered me), and gave their spiritual-enmeshed-with-financial-perspectives, a red-hot crack because they seemed to know more than me. They were certainly more confident than I was at that time – some would say even “cocky.”

With hindsight, I can now see how many of them just had the gift of the gab. They were brilliant communicators, living lives that quietly contradicted their ‘bespoke’ teachings, but as they were talking about simplicity and reducing one’s footprint, they were living extravagantly. Excessively in many cases. Preaching about freedom while trapped in a constant hustle to grab your attention. Filming themselves drinking structured water, foraging for mushrooms... while consuming endless crap, slathering themselves with expensive skincare, and driving the latest electric 4WD.

There's no continuity. No embodied discipline or coherent contribution to the "greater good" they profess to serve.

I still haven’t found anyone that can make electric 4WDs make sense, by the way.

It’s an easy trap to fall into, I know. I was tempted at times, and possibly even did cross some slightly-dodgy lines in my desperate unconscious need to resolve lingering aspects of victim and poverty consciousness. Minus the plug-in people-movers though. Never that. We’re all swimming in the same cultural soup after all. Each one of us carries the same histories, in various shapes and forms, in our DNA.

All that differs is the way we experience and respond to edges.

But awakening isn’t necessarily about upgrading your lifestyle – it’s about upgrading your integrity.

Our world is changing, rapidly. Of that there is no doubt. We are all feeling the pinch and the pressure to survive, to perform, to stay relevant in our chosen field. But if we wish to stay authentic, not just relevant, we should be asking ourselves (at least) these few simple questions: What do I actually mean by success? Is it money? Visibility? Approval? Or is it peace? Health? Self-trust? Being able to sleep at night knowing I didn’t betray myself (or others)?

Because only one of those can’t be taken from you.

Can you guess which one?

A lot of what gets called “manifesting” nowadays, in truth, is just storytelling mixed with desire.

Spellcraft.

You’re encouraged to imagine a fantasy version of yourself and try to become her, convincing yourself – or being guided to believe – that it’s just merging “the now you” with the “quantum expressions” of your soul.

But if that version requires you to suppress your truth, ignore your body, perform happiness, dismiss nature, or constantly prove your worth… sorry, but it isn’t your higher self. It’s a costume. And trust me, wearing any kind of mask, for any length of time, will ultimately irritate you. Not to mention, exhaust and deplete you.

I don’t believe we’re here to “fake it until we make it.” I think we’re here to feel it until we free it. To meet our wounds, integrate our shadows, and come home to ourselves. Not to sell spiritual dreamtimes to each other. As helpful as they may be, you don’t need another ritual, my friend. You don’t need another vision board. You need a relationship with your own truth. 

When we live in integrity, life supports us. Not always in flashy ways, but in ways that matter, like resilience, clarity, and peace. Like self-respect and accountability. That’s the real abundance. Quiet. Steady. Unshakeable. And no, I don't believe it needs to be “manifested.”

It needs to be lived.

Because at the end of the day, you didn’t come here to sell pieces of your soul for approval, visibility, or validation. (Well, maybe some humans did, and that's between them and their 'god'). For everyone else... you didn’t come here to perform healing, package your pain so you can advance in the queue, or become a prostitute for personal empowerment.

You came here to be free. You came here to live your truth. You came here to be YOU.

Freedom, truth, and sovereignty, are yours by divine birthright. You are your greatest teacher.

You don't need to "manifest" anything.

All you need to do, is wake up to yourself.

AHO